I have no medical qualifications but I do believe you are insane! 😸
I love animals. I have had all sorts of domestic and exotic pets in the past, from a Civet to a Monkey.
Since I know no one is going to know what a Civet is:
Craziest animal I have ever owned. Kind of like a Raccoon to be honest. Only a lot crazier, which is saying something.
I have two dogs today, along with a python I have had over 20 years, and a parrot and a fish tank filled up with fish no one wanted anymore so they give them to me (one is a $.10 feeder fish that I have had for 2 years - actually make that 3). Recently had a Praying Mantis I raised from an egg and had a whole terrarium of random insects to go with it.
I actually got rid of the set up after the Mantis died (they only last about a year) but are seriously considering doing it again. It was kind of a pain in the ass though, but on the other hand really cool and generally low maintenance.
Turtles, Salamanders, random birds, dogs, cat, hamsters when I was a kid, oh and a possum once too. Two squirrels. All sorts of animals over the years.
I also leave food out for a raccoon who lives in my backyard. Its more of a bribe to keep her out of my bird feeder, which she will tear apart if I don't leave food out. She's brought her kits by before too, but they never get as close which is fine.
Literally took this inches from her bowl. The yellow eyes behind her is her kit. She would have just walked into the house to eat if my dog would have let her.
Rescued a baby squirrel once. Here is Perseus in his favorite spot: between my ex-gf's D cups.
I get possums and armadillos in my backyard too. Here is one of my dogs and a male armadillo checking each other out. There was a female with him, and they were building a burrow in the bushes.
A bat was coming into my screen enclosure every morning to sleep during the day (I keep the screen door open for the dogs to go in and out, as well as the raccoon, so every now and then something else gets in. But this bat kept flying in the foot or so gap between the door and the post. Every. Morning. Eventually it stopped coming around. Here he is on one of my patio couch pillows.
My two dogs are rescues, one who was scheduled to be euthanized. Both had some issues that had to be worked out, but are now amazing dogs. The one who was to be euthanized might be the greatest dog of all time. I had another I rescued before the second one I got, who was going to be euthanized as well because it had so many health issues they felt no one would take him. This is how he looked:
I never saw him move in three days that I visited. I knew it was going to cost a lot, and I was hesitant, but said what the hell. He was only about 7 years old but went through a couple of lifetimes of neglect. Had terrible arthritis, enlarged heart, enlarged prostate, I initially thought was blind in one eye, but it turned out the be dry eye, kennel cough, matted fur, and obviously a broken heart and looked like he was giving up. He was found as a stray, but didn't have heartworm, so I am guessing someone owned him and didn't care about him. I am leaving some issues out here but I can't remember them all. Oh, he also had a big bulge on his back hip which looked like cancer.
My vet said some of the things could be maintained, but he bulge was the biggest concern, and if it was cancer, all the other things were kind of irrelevant. I was just hoping to give him a few good years of a happy life. So we set out a plan to work our way down the list of issues. After grooming him:
So about three weeks in I started noticing small changes that didn't look good, and he was scheduled for a surgeon to check out the bulge, but I wasn't even sure he was well enough do go under. I then took him to emergency care to discover that he had kidney failure and there really wasn't anything that could be done. I had no idea, it wasn't even on the list of things that was wrong with him. It was pretty heart breaking. They suggested keeping him there under observation the next 12 hours but there probably wouldnt be anything that could be done, and I could tell Cooper just wanted to go home, and that is what we did. He looked at me the whole time the vets were explaining everything to me, like he sort of understood.
A couple of days later I had to put him down. I had him for 26 days. I spent some $2500 from the time I got him to the time I had him cremated. But he changed me forever though. I will never 'buy' a dog, or get a cute puppy. I will always adopt a rescue no one else wants or needs help.
The second dog I have, was at the pound for 3 months because no one wanted him as he was aggressive and destructive. I adopted him, and it wasn't easy, but he's turned out to be an amazing dog himself. 180 degrees from when I got him. Its amazing what some good food and love will do to a dog.
So anyway, we tend to look down at animals as inferior or lacking emotions but I am constantly amazed at the intelligence I see and even the emotions from them. One night I was laying on the couch with my dogs snuggled up, and my parrot crawled down his cage, walked across the floor, and climbed up the couch to lay with us (his wings are clipped). I was in disbelief. So I think they is a lot more to them than we give them credit for. Most of them are considered a nuisance but they are just trying to hack it out in the world like the rest of us.
Even that spider.
Until recently had the mother of all wasp nests over one of my garage doors. Believe it or not, if you go slow enough and show that you don't mean harm, you can actually lightly pet a wasp sitting on its nest and it will just sit there and take it. I swear I did this in front of my neighbors to prove it, who which they stood there speechless lol. The nest eventually got so big it fell from its own weight.
